It really does on the left hand, and I think it is due to the fact that the layer above homerow is shifted in the wrong direction. I'm going to give it a week and see if it still awful, and then I am going to experiment with:

a=left
r=right
s=up
t=down

If I do not like that, then I might think of doing a numlock mod where numbers and directional keys are on the right. The other solution would be to get a proper matrix grid keyboard but I am afraid thinkpad users would be out of luck with that.

I never ended up looking at them; horrible I know. Sell them to me; why should I use them?

O is a mighty choice.

Day two, not weird at all, I already am used to it and absolutely love it, to the point where I am going to consider swapping shift and capslock(backspace). I try not using apostrophes much in the first place, because contractions such as "isn't" and "don't" are not proper in formal english. It's easy enough to find anyways since it is just shifted one over anyway.

Wow, I must ask then if you get any thumb pains at all? I honestly think my spacebar is too big, and am considering getting a japanese keyboard which condenses it so my thumbs would not have to curl in so much. I honestly do get pains with my keyboard, but a few dollars can rectify that.

A Wide mod would be excellent, however the thinkpad trackpoint does not move, unfortunately.

I am definitely having trouble with wads, but only in slight middle finger strain. I have a good solution though. VI is actually ←↑↓→  I think I will do that, and place home and end on wf, and escape on q.

Lately I have been thinking whether it possible to turn the spacebar into an altgr, with the idea that a press and hold will turn it into a modifier key. Sounds tough though to implement.

Horrid I know.

Definitely a lot there I plan to take from, and might actually eliminate my need for putting navigation on the left hand if the numpad can be delegated to the extended layer (Although I still have one more experiment I will be trying). Thanks for all your work on this, and hopefully I can help with documentation.

Two short questions (Before I delve into the modifier key madness)

• XKB is incapable as far as I know with implementing key combos. Is this true, and if yes, how are you achieving the extended cut copy and past (plus others)? Is it delegating ext as a control modifier simultaneously?
• Is extended considered as Level 5?

Also an interesting prospect I am bouncing around in my head. With the abandonment of Unity by ubuntu, there is a good chance that I will be making it on the team which sees to the project's completion (Yunit). The input boxes need to be programmed, and if I could get my hands on it, there are a lot of prospects in terms of keyboard shortcuts and macros (Vim's find functionality for example would be amazing) that could be embedded into the system...

Quick update: HomeRow control keys also suck. Now I am experimenting with:

s=left
t=right
p=up
c=down

So far, this feels really good.

Fascinating, you must have spent quite a bit, neck deep in documentation.

As for key combos, I am most curious how you are achieving

ctrl + shift + left

pressing just two keys.

As for what I am using now, I am curious whether it is possible to alter shift so that, when pressed alone, it acts as a BackSpace, but when held and used to press another key, it acts as a key modifier (And after release, will not perform backspace).

Any clue on the feasibility of that idea?

The idea there was to define the AltGr key to be Shift (using right thumb), and then:

1. press thumb Shift  -> hold Space -> release Shift : tapping any key gives layer 3.
2. hold thumb Shift -> hold Space : tapping any key gives layer 4.

Normal space function unaffected.

It works, but it's not as nice as having a split-space keyboard.

I am just starting with colemak. your changes in general seem to make sense to me (being a  developer).
I especially like the WASD idea.
I am not sure yet about the idea to swap ( and ). As someone mentioned already, with most editors will insert the ) anyway.
But my major concern is the placement of the - . I work a lot in unix terminals and  - is frequently needed.
The need t press it with the pinky finger plus a modifier seems too complicated to me.
Will give it a try anyway :-)

All right, I am going to give myself some feedback, as it has come time to revamp and reflect.  This will be brief, as I will make a new thread and obsolete this one.

A new keyboard:

means it is time to redo everything.

First, the directional keys on the left hand.

WARS - Failure. Requires the hand shift, not good.
FRST - Failure. That middle finger will start to hurt. Acceptable maybe if you happen to have a grid keyboard.
PSCT - Pretty good, surprisingly, but annoying with vim, as down was too close to the paste button. (v)

If you are intent on using the left hand, PSCT is very comfortable, after adjusting to it about after a week. All directional keys will thus be handled with the index and middle finger.

Second; the shift keys

' was turned into a shift, and I loved it. Eventually I turned caps into a shift as well, and moved backspace down to the shift key. Worked well.

I found a git project that turned the space key into a control when held down, but just a space when pressed.

I plan to use that code to work on turning the space into a level 3 modifier key instead, and the capslock and ' keys into backspace when tapped, and shift while held. I will then turn the shift keys into control keys.

Third, the Number Pad

On the right hand, definitely easier to navigate. I might keep it there, but delegate it to a higher modifier key. The thinkpad i bought seems to have a decent layout for it already mapped on the keys on the right hand.

@Dreymar
st were left and right. with alt shift, they became home and end. Decent, but inconsistent results on apps for some reason. The left hand was interesting, but it was better to have them on the right hand after all.

@kohlerm
Swapping the () makes sense when you consider that you roll your fingers pinky to thumb the easiest. After I got used to it, I could not do without it. Placing the {} a shift above was also practical.

I was surprised that you dont like the dash position. For me, I use a lot of _, but having the dash there works for me as well. in either case, moving the equals away to the edge has worked well for me. I ended up putting the / back on the 7, and making the 3 into the '

having the */ bigram is just too valuable for my commenting needs :-)

Okay all, stay tuned for my next thread.

For anyone reading this, the take away from this layout experiment is:

- The only directional key layout that is sound on the left hand is PSCT, otherwise the right hand is better suited for this.
- Shift Keys on ' and Capslock are amazing.

Yeah WARS is just awful due to the upper row being shifted left, because your fingers have a proclivity to stretch up and inwards. I think with Gaming, people just bare through it, although at this point, I am often now remapping my WARS in gaming to PSCT. I just like it that much.

That is a very interesting suggestion, moving shift to the thumb and altgr to the pinkys....

I will have to try that, because, if I can successfully get the space bar to dual function as a modifier key, uppercase will be even nicer as I will not have to shift my pinkies. The drawback though will be that I will lose directional keys...

We will see.

Can somebody add a feature for saving threads without having to post a reply? I'd prefer not to use browser bookmarks...

;)